Musings of a food service refugee

Many years ago I had a craving for crab soup. Not the veggie heavy, tomatoey Maryland style soup. I wanted a soup with cream and fat lumps of crab meat. The traditional cream of crab soups from local restaurants didn’t do it for me. Some of them tasted like sherry-spiked library paste.

I started experimenting in my kitchen. The first couple of incarnations of this soup also had fish and shrimp. I finally settled on this recipe. It is a mashup of cream of crab, chowder, and bisque. It is rich and satisfying and uses fresh summer produce. And there’s bacon! Everything’s better with bacon!

Cut kernels off of the shucked corn cobs and set aside. Place 7 quart pot over medium heat. Add diced bacon and cook, stirring until bacon is crisp and browned. Remove bacon and drain on a paper towel. Add onions, potatoes, mushrooms, and corn. Sauté vegetables in the bacon fat until onions are translucent. Sprinkle with Old Bay and stir. Sprinkle with flour, stir, and cook until flour starts to brown slightly and smells slightly nutty. Add cooked bacon. Stir in seafood stock, scraping up browned bits. Add salt and pepper. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer until potatoes are cooked.

While soup is simmering, carefully pick through crab meat and remove any bits of shell – taking care not to break up the lumps. Once potatoes are cooked, stir in cream and simmer until soup is heated through and is reduced slightly. Do not let the soup boil.

Once the soup is reduced, add crab and stir gently – again taking care not to break up the lumps. Heat until crab is warmed through. Add salt and pepper to taste – if needed. Serve and Enjoy!

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Published by cookdrinkfeast

I have been trained in culinary school and tried by fire. I have wielded my knives and hot pans in many a restaurant kitchen. Now I’m going to share the knowledge I’ve gained to help you eat well.
cookdrinkfeast.wordpress.com features recipes, wine reviews, restaurant reviews, and whatever else in the food world I think you will find interesting. Butter, alcohol, and salt are a few of my favorite things. But I also include healthful swaps where they make sense.
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